The present invention relates to manufacturing of articles incorporating photovoltaic cells and more particularly deals with an improved process for manufacturing photovoltaic charging panels.
Photovoltaic cells have been cut up and made into circuits for years. This was done by hand soldering wire to first one side of a piece of cell and then to the opposite side. Since one side of each cell is negative, and the other is positive this process will produce an electrical circuit. However this process is slow, labor intensive and subject to a high failure rate. In the past this process has been used mostly for producing small panels that have been used in novelties or hobby products. Presently there are a large number of rechargeable devices such as cellular phones, laptop computers and cordless phones, that are capable of having their use extended by the use of a small, high output photovoltaic panels. For further details about these applications, please refer to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/1476,234.
Some related patents are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,659 describes fabrication of small solar cells. Each cell is mounted on an individual carrier and electrical connections are made between the cell and the carrier by automated wire bonding. The carriers are then mounted and electrically connected to a substrate. Finally a concentrator lens is placed over the array.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,505 describes mounting of solar cells on a light weight, honeycomb panel. The cells are mounted on metallized surfaces of a heat spreader and a circuit carrier, adhered to the rear, is bonded to islands on one side of the heat spreader.
While the basic concepts presented in the above mentioned patents are of interest, and an improvement over traditional hand assembly, none of the processes employed create photovoltaic cell assemblies that are able to fit into rechargeable batteries for electronic devices and the processes use many more steps than are necessary.
Development of an improved process for manufacturing miniature, photovoltaic panels which can speed up and optimize the assembly process represents a great improvement in the field of electronics assembly and satisfies a long felt need of the electronics manufacturer.